No Hesitation
by Moon Ecstasy
Summary: Sakura reflects on their failed mission and the bitter reunion with their old team-mate. "Now it was no longer a matter of "Can we bring him back home before it's too late?" it was a matter of, "Can we even save him from himself?"" REVIEW!


Song is "The Moment I Said It" by Imogen Heap and this was inspired by a video I found on Youtube by Blankedty called Naruto/Shippuuden-The Moment I Said It. Enjoy and go watch the video.

**Bolds are song lyrics**

_Italics are memeories_

Regular type is present time

I don't even own my own bed... much less Naruto. But I do own the singer... Her name is Tariola and she is a character in a completely original story that I am working on.

* * *

Sakura sipped at her sake letting the burn of the alcohol keep her somewhat numb to the pain in her chest. She had been forced to grow up a lot in the past few years but nothing had prepared her for the mission they had failed.

_His eyes were dead._

A gusty sigh from beside her made her turn to glance at her drinking partner. Naruto wasn't really looking at anything in particular. He had a neutral expression on his face, eyes glazed over in contemplation, a slight quirk to the corner of his lips.

To an outsider, he looked content, but Sakura could see the pain that broiled under the surface. As much as he had matured since he left with Jiraiya-sama he was still too much like that bratty child that had never been able to deal with failure very well.

_His eyes showed no recognition._

Naruto snorted softly drawing Sakura's eyes to the front of the bar. A girl dressed in multi-coloured, glittering rags had tripped over something and gone sprawling. Sakura quirked an eyebrow at Naruto. He was usually one to go help another person, not laugh at their folly... at least if he did laugh it was while he was helping.

"She did it on purpose." was his reply to her unasked question. And as they watched the girl Sakura found it to be true, she stumbled and danced across the stage setting things up for what was obviously going to be a performance. An attempt, Sakura thought, to lighten the atmosphere of a bar full of Ninja's intent on drinking away their realities.

When the music began and the girl started her song and dance routine Sakura had to admit, it was working. The rags of her outfit became swirls of colour and flashes of light. Sakura felt herself calming with the cheerful music.

The girl suddenly stopped moving as the tempo slowed. Her voice was mournful and it struck a chord in Sakura. Naruto leaned forward in his seat, sake forgotten.

**"The moment I said it,"**

"_Sakura, huh?"_

**"The moment I opened my mouth"**

_Her lips whispered the name of the one she had lost, the one she had loved._

**"Lead your eyelids,**

**Bulldozed the life out of me"**

_He looked at her like he hadn't even known her, like she was someone he'd been shown a picture of and he had only just met._

**"I know what you're thinking,**

**But darling you're not thinking straight"**

Didn't he realise what he stood to loose? Sakura couldn't understand him. Yes he had lost his family. Many people even younger then him had lost their families. Many people had suffered far worse then he had and still found the courage to move on with their lives.

Sakura clenched her hands into fists.

He had something those people never had.

**"Sadly things just happen we can't explain"**

Sakura's breath hitched as a fine tremor coursed through her bones.

**"It's not even light out,**

**But you've somewhere to be"**

_He had looked so sad when she had last seen him, even though she had been the one crying helplessly. I was as if he knew what he was giving up._ _But if he really understood, then he would never have left that night. _

His determination, his vengeance, was all he really understood, both when he first left and when they had found him again.

**"No hesitation**

**No I've never seen you like this,"**

_There had been no life in his eyes when he had looked down upon them. The shadow that they had been chasing these last three years, the friend they refused to give up on._

**"And I don't like it**

**I don't like it**

**I don't like it at all"**

Naruto had his face hidden behind his hands and he wasn't moving, not even a tremble to indicate breath. Sakura felt herself curling forward ever so slightly. The singer continued, not knowing the effect she was having on her listeners.

**"Just put back the car keys,**

**Or somebody's gonna get hurt"**

_Naruto was screaming at him demanding to why he had never finished it. "Why didn't you kill me then?! Isn't that your way of severing bonds?!"_

**"Who are you calling at this hour?**

**Sit down, come round, I need you now"**

"_The reason is simple." His voice was so cold, so very empty, "It's not that I didn't sever those bonds. I merely spared your life on a whim."_

**"We'll work it all out together,**

**But we're getting nowhere tonight"**

_Where was he? Where did he go?_

**"Now sleep, I promise it'll all seem better,**

**Somehow in time"**

But it didn't seem to be getting any better or any easier. Just his name brought depression. What kind of people where they if they couldn't even save their friend.

What kind of girl was she if she couldn't even save the one she loved.

**"It's not even light out,**

**Suddenly oooh, you've somewhere to be**

**With no hesitation**

**Oh, I've never seen you like this"**

_He had moved so fast they couldn't even see it. He taunted Naruto and for a brief flash she had seen the boy she had fallen in love with. A love that had yet to diminish. Then..._

**"You're scaring me**

**You're scaring me**

**You're scaring me to death"**

"_That's why this time, at my whim, you'll loose your life." He pulled the sword from it's scabbard and no one even twitched._

**"Don't…ohh... smash**

**Please don't…ohh... not another one**

**Don't…ohh... smash**

**Please don't…ohh... not another one"**

_Naruto didn't even move as the sword was held above him, "Can a person who can't even save one of his friends become Hokage? What do you think..."_

_He wouldn't, he couldn't! But the sword flashed downward. Would he really kill the one thing he had that others like him craved?_

**"I'm losing you, I'm losing you**

**Trust me on this one"**

_He would and he'd feel no regret. If there was even a shred of the person she loved in this man, it was buried so deep it couldn't even be seen._

**"I've got a bad feeling,**

**Trust me on this one"**

_Now it was no longer a matter of "Can we bring him back home before it's too late?" it was a matter of, "Can we even save him from himself?"_

**"You're gonna throw it all away**

**With no hesitation"**

He couldn't understand what it was that he had. What is was that she had as well. What it was that others craved and could rarely find. He didn't understand that more then anyone, he was the luckiest person there could be.

Sakura turned to Naruto who had lifted his face from his hands, raw pain evident for a brief moment.

**"Smash"**

As the music trailed off Naruto turned to Sakura a bright, goofy smile on his face. "Neh, Sakura, let's blow this joint and go get some ramen, my treat!" Sakura smiled back and followed the hyper ninja out the door.

Sasuke just didn't understand what a treasure he had been given, when he had been teamed up with Naruto.


End file.
